Regulatory Assistance Project

Smart Gas Investment

As a bridge to a low-carbon future, natural gas can’t – and shouldn’t – meet every need.

Some describe natural gas generation as the “Swiss army knife” of technologies, as it can meet a variety of electric system needs. Yet while a Swiss army knife can prove handy, we don’t often use it when we have access to a well-equipped toolbox. It can introduce unnecessary costs and unacceptable risks.

Catching Fire

Climate policy heats up after the Great Recession.

GHG rules are coming soon. What happens next will depend on how states react.

Dealing With the Duck

Designing markets to accommodate variable resources.

Growth in variable resources creates an increasing need for demand response and fast-ramping generation. The right market design can bring both.

Tranche Warfare

The experts do battle over capacity market design.

A FERC conference this fall aired new major policy options for capacity markets. Amid the battle, ISOs are making tactical adjustments.

Looking Beyond Transmission

FERC Order 1000 and the case for alternative solutions.

How FERC Order 1000 gives short shrift to NTAs (non-transmission alternatives) in regional system planning—while consumers pay the price.

Least-Risk Planning

The Homer City decision increases uncertainty—but rewards forward thinking.

The D.C. Circuit’s CSAPR ruling reinforces the benefits of planning ahead and keeping options open. A diverse portfolio strategy reduces risks and costs.

Carbon and the Constitution

State GHG policies confront federal roadblocks.

So far, states have taken the lead in carbon-control strategies. These state actions, however, could lead to constitutional conflicts—as recent court battles demonstrate. Only the U.S. Congress can regulate interstate trade, so states must step carefully in controlling carbon leakage.

Smart Meters on The March

New federal policies portend a wave of demand-response programs, and perhaps a new era in resource planning.

When President Bush signed the energy bill on August 8, he set in motion a chain of events that might lead to major changes in the way utilities price and meter retail electric services—and ultimately in the way they value and use non-traditional energy resources.

Distributed Generation: Hastening Genco Obsolescence?

DER: This final installment of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's series on distributed energy resources investigates efficiency, the environment, and generation displacement.

Do distributed energy resources result in more pollution, or less? Our final installment of the series from Oak Ridge National Laboratory answers the question.

News Digest

Dynegy's David Francis, vice president for western power trading, testified on Dec. 21 on why he thought the ISO was bending the rules:

 

News Digest